Meet The Team - Dundee Renewable Energy Society (DRES)

Helen Grayshan

Helen is a long term co-operator and advocate of community renewable energy, and a member and current Director of the Spirit of Lanarkshire wind energy coop.

She first became involved in the sector when working for the community development trust in Berwick upon Tweed, which came up with the idea of generating income for social projects through building a community owned wind turbine.

In 2012 she moved to Scotland and undertook the MSc in Renewable Energy at Dundee University, after a career in transport, regeneration and community development down south. She currently develops low carbon energy projects for a local authority.

She has also been an area committee member for the Cooperative Group in East Scotland, and is a former Director of The Phone Coop.

Richard McCready

Tom Nockolds

Tom Nockolds has been immersed in community energy since 2013. He co-founded Sydney-based community energy group Pingala in 2013 and is director at Community Power Agency (Australia) since 2014, a worker-owned co-operative and Australia’s only dedicated support organisation for community energy. Since moving to Scotland, Tom has found a new home in the Glasgow community where he volunteers for local issues. Tom is employed by Energy4All as project manager, a role that finds him supporting communities across Scotland developing energy projects. Tom is Energy4All’s representative for DRES and was co-opted to the board in August 2022.

Alex Urquhart-Taylor

Alex has had a long-standing interest in renewable technology and sustainable development, which is what originally lead him to become involved in DRES.

With a background in physics and computing, Alex is the director of a successful website design and marketing business and currently works with SMEs throughout Scotland to help them develop their digital requirements.

Alex is heavily involved in the Scottish traditional music scene, performing professionally for many years with both his own band and other performers.

More recently, Alex has joined the board of Fèis Rois, one of Scotland’s leading traditional arts and Gaelic language organisations, providing opportunities to thousands of children across Scotland to learn music, arts and the Gaelic language.